For those to young to have experienced it, elementary schools used to assign biographies of people like Ford, Edison, Bell, Morse, and the like. Then as I got a bit older there were the fictional Horatio Alger stories about heroes. In my early professional career there was a Magazine called "Success" published by W. Clement Stone. Stone started at a young age selling Newspapers during the depression for $.06 apiece. He eventually started selling insurance, and built his personal fortune to over $6,000,000,000.00. Not bad for a shy boy, afraid of thunderstorms, from a broken home.

It's not just inventors no longer considered heroes, it seems to me anyone that achieves beyond the PC avg/mean is marginalized and set out as someone not to emulate.

Apparently, from a political point of view, it is better to be admired as a gangsta than the gentleman that invented air conditioning. Better to be a drug dealer than the fellow that used the secret recipe to market Coca Cola. We should tear down an older southern woman for the language she once used, instead of teaching the kids Harlan Sanders was 66 years old before he figured out KFC.

IMHO, as a Nation we have been talked into keeping our eyes on the wrong ball.

My earliest heroes were inventors and remain so. Tom Swift, Jr. was a favorite read, and since, I have read a few of the original Tom Swift books, which appeared around 1920 ("Tom Swift And His Electric Bicycle", "Tom Swift And His Wireless Message"). The storylines and writing are standard "series book" fare, but reading stories where problems were solved by science and invention....it never ceased to fascinate. I recall one incident where he and an associate were locked in a room with aluminum bars on the window. Tom got a mercury thermometer from somewhere and used the mercury to melt through the bars. Far-fetched, sure. But scientific.

Come to think of it, a lot of the old-time series books for young people had some thought behind them. The Hardy Boys were crime fighters, but they were also detectives and had a lot of MacGuyver in them. The same goes for "The Three Investigators" (in my day, featuring Alfred Hitchcock--they've been through several incarnations since).

There was a somewhat obscure children's series in my day which featured Mark and Rich, two outdoorsmen who tended to find themselves in the middle of mysteries (some historical) and survival situations, usually in some exotic and/or historical setting. They thought on their feet, used the tools they had at hand, and invariably solved whatever problem or problems they faced. Several of the books led to me developing an interest in the locations they explored, which led me to other things, and so on and so on....

The "Mark And Rich" authors did other series as well. One involved a racing team--all of the stuff about mechanics was accurate. I believe there was another about explorers or treasure hunters as well.

I assume there are still books for young people out there which inspire curiosity and have heroes worthy of the name. At least, I hope so. Am I the only one who is tired of seeing reams of books about zombies and vampires on store shelves? I don't see the appeal.

Ordered, and, yes, it fits the AS theme well. In fact, for a moment I suspected the main character's name might be a Rearden/Danneskjöld tribute. Still might be - I'll have to read the book to find out. :-)

Anyone (besides me) old enough to remember the Tom Swift, boy inventor series? I started reading them as a kid in Homestead, Florida in 1939 and went through the entire series in the public library. He invented things fictionally that later became non-fiction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

I loved this book and was more than happy to pay the full Kindle price for it.

You have to be kidding! 99 cents?
I already had it in my "to order" queue and now it has jumped out of there into my "ordered" list.

Looking forward to adding it to my read (past tense) list.

Did not Ayn Rand say, and give to John Galt to say in that radio speech, that inventors were the last profession to emerge in a civilization and the first to fall when the savages take over?

My most non-humble thanks to all of you in the Gulch who are taking advantage of the current .99 special on our thriller, NOW #8 IN BESTSELLERS:VIGILANTE JUSTICE!! Please share with your friends!

For 99 cents, it was so easy to 1-click.

I loved this book. If you haven't read it put it at the top of your list.

Way too many patents were filed by companys for inventions and the employee never recieved recognition or monetary compensation.

It's been a long time since inventors were generally acclaimed for making money from their inventions. People generally view them as a sort of communal resource, like a well from which ideas can be taken with no thought as to who dug it.

My heroes are people who have achieved distinction by creating wealth for themselves and as a result for others (such as jobs). I do not consider sports, rock stars or Hollywood stars to be heroes. It would include those that inherited, and multiplied that inheritance, not those who diminished it. It includes the champions of industry who improve their companies, such as Jack Welch of GE, or Steve Jobs of Apple.
There are very few politicians who can be considered heroes. My heroes don’t have to be perfect because I have yet to meet a perfect person. One last item, heroes can also be people who change the world for the better (like Ayn Rand).

Excellent read! Can't wait for the next one!

I've read it and loved it and looking forward to the next one. Hank was my kind of man. It's one of the few that I bought a hard copy of.

well, K, what should I say?

I bought the kindle, and the paperback, and read them
with extraordinary relish. I loved every word, and
even loved the words between words, the punctuation,
the nuances, the coloratura of meanings ... it was
more than a book;;; for almost a month, it was my
mistress, pleasing me endlessly, late at night! I still
return for more, months later!

This Is A Good Book! Buy It! -- j

p.s. I'm almost through with my 4th one, now.

I bought the book this afternoon. I'll read it on my lunch break at work.

Liberals HATE thinking.

Especially independent thinking.